Economics questions inspired by The Onion

A headline from The Onion: "Cackling Warren Buffett Burns Entire Fortune In Front Of Nation"

Seriously though, if that actually did happen, how would that affect the economy? Not Warren Buffett specifically, but what would happen if billions of dollars in cash were eliminated from circulation?

Somewhere along the way in life, I absorbed the idea that government can't just print more money to pay their bills because that would drive up inflation. If this is the case, burning a large quantity of cash should, logically, result in deflation. This would drive prices down, which would be useful to people whose incomes wouldn't immediately be driven down accordingly. If you owe a big mortgage and your income drops with deflation you might be in trouble (unless the money you can save on your more variable expenses makes up for it), but if you have a fixed salary and your expenses are either fixed or dependent on market forces, it would get a bit easier to make ends meet.

I don't know how many people fall into each category, but is it possible that if Warren Buffet burned his entire fortune, the economic consequences would make life easier for millions of people?

Another question is whether, if inflation would in fact be cause by printing large amounts of currency and, conversely, deflation would in fact be caused by the disappearance of large amounts of currency, does this phenomenon only work if the markets know about it? If they printed more money in secret, or if Warren Buffet locked himself in his office and ran his entire fortune through the paper shredder, would they still have the same economic impact?